Ben Arfa A Bigger Miss Than Andy Carroll

Alan Pardew would have seen in the clearest light yesterday, that Newcastle’s current attack is woeful for the Premier League.

Ben Arfa – a future great at Newcastle?

If we had played on yesterday after the 90 minutes, we wouldn’t have scored in a month of Sundays, and the lads haven’t scored in six of their last twelve games.

Of course Liverpool are playing very well these days under Kenny Dalglish, and even their defense, which was woeful at Newcastle in December, has improved immensely.

But if Alan had any doubts that he needs to strengthen the squad this summer, the toothless display yesterday will show him that Newcastle just cannot live with the big boys, not with the current squad.

Of course we have had many injuries this season, and two top players Ben Arfa and Dan Gosling were missing and may return before the end of the season in just under three weeks time.

Alan was asked this morning if the loss of Andy Carroll had hit the side since February, and this is what he said:

“The loss of Ben Arfa maybe. Suarez is what Ben Arfa can do for us. He was brought in as a link player and would provide that link play that Suarez gives Liverpool.”“That is more important than the impact Carroll had on the game, which was minimal.”

“The second goal was crucial in the game,” “After a fast start by Liverpool, their first shot, that was not the best of starts for us. We played well in that period because we took the emphasis away from them.”

“We couldn’t quite find the movement or a moment around the box. Just after half-time we had a big chance with Joey (Barton), I would have expected him to score that. It would have been difficult for them then. Williamson made a mistake and that cost us the second goal, it was outside the box by the looks of it.”

“Our strikers could be improved. We will have to work on that. We need more penetration. Jonás Gutiérrez caused problems and we affected the game a little and not the scoreline.”

“The little things fell Liverpool’s way,” “Spirit in our group is fine. The commitment and effort is honorable. We lacked a bit of quality.” “Hatem and Danny (Guthrie) were missing.”

We also have to remember yesterday that we were playing a revitalized Liverpool side, and we didn’t expect anything out of the game, and Newcastle continually stuck to their task, and tried to play good football.

Newcastle have three games left, and it seems the best we can do is 6 points from those games.

There’s good possibility of getting wins at home against Birmingham and West Brom, although West Brom won again over the weekend and ar now above Newcastle in the league, and still have only one loss since Roy Hodgson took over, and they even beat Liverpool at home.

So the easiest game left is definitely this coming Saturday, at home to Birmingham, and we just must try all out out to win that game, and win it well.

26 comments so far

There’s still a chance Newcastle won’t score in that game against Birmingham you know. I was surprised yesterday, even with 3-0 down, Liverpool was the first to change their team but not Newcastle. I was wondering what Pardew was expecting.

pardew is ryt hba is the bigger miss it was n has been all season painfull to watch are team lacks pace n creativity apart jonas who was superb yesterday were so short, all are signing in the summer need pace n power n creativity n if not all 3 then they hav to b expetional at one, barton can no longer play right wing next season he is only there for his delivery but when his passes were as bad as yesterday he is just inaffective him n nolan are gonna have to b rotated in cm role next season, we 2 new full backs as jose is away n simpson who think is a great defender but give nothin goin forward, apart from best who shud keep we need to get rid of all our strikers it is so painful to watch shola, lover n kuqi n ranger upfront, and am sorri but were safe now airey n tavernier n ferguson n innman shud all be giving there chance to shine in last 3 games we kno what rest of team can d which is nothin much

this a good read fromChris Hughton: I think it was a combination of a few things. At that stage nobody knew what was going to happen at the club. There were certain players who showed a desire to go, and subsequently went. Then there were players at the club who were under contract and did enjoy being at the club.

I think many of them looked at the situation and saw that we were still a big club, but in a different division. A lot of them thought that, with the squad we had, we had a great chance of going straight back up again.

I think the fact that we started well helped too. We only lost one player – Damien Duff – who actually started the season with us. Perhaps if we had not started well, a few more would have taken that as a sign of things to come and want to get away. But, because we started well, I think they saw the challenge of coming straight back up as one they could enjoy, and they showed that right throughout the season.

Was it always clear just how quickly Andy Carroll would progress after his first full season in the team?

Chris Hughton: No it wasn’t. First and foremost, he is definitely one player who benefited from the club being relegated. We had lost Michael Owen, Mark Viduka and Obafemi Martins. There is perhaps the train of thought that says if we had stayed in the Premier League we probably would have looked to replace those players with other centre-forwards. The fact that we didn’t gave Andy the opportunity to play.

I think the fact that he got to play on that regular a basis no doubt fast-tracked the qualities that he is now showing. It was evident that he was a lad who had enough in the locker to make progress, but to do that you have got to be playing games. He showed that, by the end of that Championship season, he was a much better player than when he started it.

Regarding his progress, we had a decent pre-season before the start of this season, and then we went and lost 3-0 at Manchester United in the first game. We were able to pick through some positives from that game, and probably the biggest of those was the performance of Andy Carroll. From there, of course, things have gone from strength to strength for him.

At the start of the season no one could have predicted that he would move on so soon for a record fee for a British player. What did you think when you saw that Liverpool had paid £35 million for him?

The fee was always going to be about the future. With the money that they got for (Fernando) Torres and what they paid out for Carroll and (Luis) Suarez, at the moment it looks like good business. Only time will tell, regarding the actual figure that they paid for him.

If Andy continues to make really good progress for Liverpool and England over the next few years then everybody will look at that fee and say it was worth every penny of it, because we now have a player who is possibly worth more. It is a big fee, and I think most people at the time felt that, but these are the market values these days.

yea were the team for last 3 games shud be krul tavernier willo colo jose jonas barton tiote nolan ferguson airey movin jnas across to ryt to helptavernier out fergie is class on left n airey up top with nolan supporting him, jus look at liverpool giving that flannigan a games hes been brilliant if we aint gonna blood our youngsters now were never gonna do it n vukic n lualua shud be playing if fit

whats the point of spending all this cash on the academy if u dont produce players its crap, we hav an abundance of talent but the only way to see if they can cut is by giving them games, jus look at fergie best player against everton n stoke n what happens we aint seen him since, taveriner, ferguson, airey shud be playing now fact then when kadar, vukic n lualua are fit they shud b playing

Airey?! I’ve seen him play, he’s nowhere near EPL-quality. Send him on loan to Darlington.

Actually, our side is not that bad. Krul is a fine goalie, the defence is decent unless Willo makes his trademark mistakes, midfield is strong… Sadly, we’ve got the worst attacking pair in the whole EPL. Shola and Lovenkrands, those two would not get games in many other sides, I’m afraid. And Kuqi, did you guys see him on Sunday? What a shame…

Yet more utter nonsense from the gob of the casino crony. So we haven’t missed Andy Carroll have we? 2 wins from 14 games since he was sold and faliure to score in half of those games. That’s what you call not missing your best (and only decent) striker.

So the casino crony reckons that it was Ben Arfa who scored 11 premiership goals for us in the first half of the season. He reckons that “the impact Carroll had on the game…..was minimal”. Well maybe yesterday but the impact Carroll had on our season was anything but minimal. If it wasn’t for Andy Carroll’s contribution before Christmas there is no doubt whatsoever that we would have been relegated this season.

Of course we all know what the casino crony is building up to don’t we. If we haven’t missed Andy Carroll then we don’t need to replace him. So prepare yourself for the spectacle Ben Arfa playing behind Ameobi or Lovenkrands next season while the FCB’s £35 million gathers interest in his bank account.

I agree with the comment that phil airey should get a chance to play, there is nothing to lose at this staage. He is less tested at PL level and ameobi and lovenkrands aren’t really the future for the club.

alka – I thought about it many times but he’s still injured isn’t he? K.Lua Lua would bring a lot of much needed creativity to the team. It’s been a really disastrous season of injuries with all our creative players in long term injuries:

Ben Arfa Gosling K. Lua Lua Best Ireland

What the hell happens in training as most of the injuries occur there? Is Cheick Tiote putting everyone on check in training? – it seems like it.

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